'CBM is a new way of looking at the organization'

What is IBM's presence in the financial service space?

IBM has $5 bn annual investment in technology and business research. We have
the experience of implementing large complex solutions in FSS space across the
world. We are able to tap the expertise as and when necessary. IDC ranked IBM
Global Services # 1 worldwide and US market leader in Network Consulting and
Integration Services (December 2004). According to Gartner, IBM captured the top
market share for financial services worldwide. IBM's market share lead is most
pronounced on a global basis, with four times as much market share as its
closest competitors. In North America, IBM has twice as much market share as the
second and third largest IT services vendors. Our presence in India is now
scaling up and component business modeling is a terrific place to start.

What is CBM? How are banks changing their
functionalities across globe?

Component business modeling (CBM) is a technique for modeling an enterprise
as a network of non-overlapping components in order to identify opportunities
for innovation and improvement. IBM's component business model is radically a
new way of looking at the organization-As a network of collaborating,
specialized business components. Given a business strategy, the CBM allows for
the rapid development or optimization of a target-operating model. This leads to
enhanced flexibility, cost savings, competency assessment and
business-technology linkages. Component modeling drives the transformation of a
bank's operating model. Removing the constraints of geographies, internal
silos and cross function processes does this.

Why CBM?

At the outset it reduces duplication. Capabilities (resources, skill sets)
are not duplicated across the enterprise. CBM ensures effective organizational
collaboration across the enterprise. Also, it improves performance by enhanced
efficiency ratio. Another important aspect is reduction of cost. And it reduces
complexity by rationalizing redundancy, overlapping applications and systems
while identifying gaps.

What is IBM's approach for banks in India?

We believe that a CBM led approach to review a bank's operating model,
will cut time and cost. This will create a portfolio of CXO level value
propositions. 12-week diagnostic can identify opportunities for the client. The
approach will help in simplification of applications and infrastructure too.

Minu Sirsalewala

minuvs@cybermedia.co.in